Drawing on past research, I advance the following propositions in this talk: (1) inequality in China has been largely mediated by collective agencies, such as locales and work units; (2) traditional Chinese political discourse promoted merit-based inequality, with merit being defined as improving the collective welfare for the masses; and (3) many Chinese people today regard inequality as an inevitable consequence of economic development. Thus, it seems unlikely that social inequality alone would lead to political and social unrest in today's China.